Braves Look To Shore Up Pitching With Burnett

The Braves are inching closer to a five-year deal for AJ Burnett, according to Dave O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. This comes a day after the Braves traded for White Sox workhorse Javier Vazquez.

Suddenly the Braves are trying to win in 2009, hoping to reclaim a fan base that has seemingly gone by the wayside. It’ll be hard in the ultra-competitive NL East. Last season, the Braves had a pretty decent starting rotation with Jair Jurrjens, Tim Hudson and Jorge Campillo earning ERAs under 4.00. I’m surprised, then, that they’d go out of their way to add two starting arms, especially considering it was their bullpen that suffered most in 2008.

For the Phillies, it’d be nice to see Burnett off the board — his wish for five years and a ton of money didn’t sit well with me. Though it would be better to see Burnett go to another division.